m. Discipline, Training, and Experience. Proper use of simple preventive
measures, which are inspected and enforced by officers and noncommissioned officers
markedly, reduces the incidence of cold injury.
Individual and unit discipline, training, and experience are closely related
in their influence upon the incidence of cold injury.
Well-trained and disciplined soldiers usually suffer less than others from
the cold because they are more likely to:
--
Care for themselves through personal hygiene.
--
Care for their feet.
--
Change clothing.
--
Exercise the extremities when immobilized.
--
Take similar preventive measures.
Soldiers from warm climates may need additional training and supervision.
4-3.
THE WIND CHILL CHART
a. Wind + Temperature and Body Heat. The human body is continually
producing and losing heat. Wind promotes the loss of heat by removing the thin layer of
warm air next to the skin. The rate of heat loss increases as the wind speed increases.
When the temperature of the air is below freezing and the wind removes the heat faster
than the body can replace it, frostbite may occur. Thus, either a decrease in the
ambient (air) temperature or an increase in the wind speed acts to increase the danger
of frostbite to unprotected (exposed) skin, especially the face and ears. The combined
effect of wind and temperature is expressed in the wind chill chart (Table 4-1) as an
equivalent temperature. This chart expresses the combined effect of temperature and
wind upon exposed flesh as though it was an ambient temperature with no air
movement.
MD0152
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